BIRTH: October 17, 2005
DEATH: April 12, 2010
Dominick Richard Calhoun ~ Age 4
Dominick, 4, was tortured and beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend, Brandon Hayes. His ordeal went on for 4 days straight and his mother, Corrine Baker, had more than one opportunity to end the abuse and actually did nothing to help her son in ways that could have saved his life.
The reason that 4 year-old Dominick was relentlessly beaten, burned, and tortured for 4 days?
He went his pants while sitting on the sofa.
Dominick’s mother’s boyfriend, Brandon Hayes, became enraged and began punching and kicking Dominick repeatedly in the head. Still angry, Hayes then began hitting Dominick’s mother, Corrine Baker. “Who is going to pay for this?” He was screaming that at Corrine Baker as he was supposedly beating her.
The next day, the boyfriend once again began kicking little Dominick in the head and the groin repeatedly and when the boy’s mother covered his body with her own, the boyfriend kicked her in the head. During the abuse, Hayes kept screaming at Dominick’s mother that he was tired of raising little Dominick and he was upset that he was not getting any money from Dominick’s father. The boyfriend told Baker that Dominick was nothing more than a little crackhead who deserved to die.
On the third day of this savage beating, Dominick was lying almost lifeless on his bed when it’s believed that the boyfriend dragged the unconscious boy out of his bed by his arm and continued to kick and beat the boy again and again throughout the day. The investigation also revealed that the boyfriend had used his thumbs to poke into Dominick’s eyes.
On the final day, Corrine Baker’s sister, Christine Baker, stopped by the apartment to purchase drugs from Hayes and her sister. When she seen bruising on her sister and her nephew had been badly beaten, Christine left and told Dominick’s grandfather. The grandfather called the police and stated frantically that they needed help at the apartment because his grandson was dying.
Officers entered the apartment and found Dominick in his bedroom lying on his back, he was only wearing a t-shirt and pull-up pants. Dominick was unconscious and moaning with shallow breathing at the time.
Dominick was rushed by paramedics to a local hospital where he was declared brain-dead and placed on life-support. A portion of Dominick’s skull had to be removed to help relieve pressure because his brain was so swollen. He was covered from head to toe in bruises, and his little knuckles on one hand burned so badly they were scabbed over and black. Dominick Calhoun died the following morning, after being removed from life support.
Corrine Baker, Dominick’s mother, even though she said she was beat and threw her body of Dominick’s to save him, was actually charged in his murder. Her actions during the beating and torture of Dominick spoke louder than her bruises and words. She said Brandon, her boyfriend, beat her the same day he started beating Dominick but I have to beg to differ, as she left with her parents the next day and they saw no bruising on her. It wasn’t until her sister came over to buy drugs that bruising was seen on Corrine. She could have ended this with one word to her parents, and she didn’t open her mouth. The day after the alleged torture of her son, Dominick began, Corrine Baker, left her apartment with her parents for a doctor’s appointment and did not say one word to them about what was happening in the apartment to her son.
“We were talking with her. She was all happy and smiling and talking to Brandon on the phone.”
Corrine’s parents said they talked to Corrine again the next day on the phone and, again, she said nothing. “She called us on Saturday and we called her back, and that’s the last time we heard from her.” The parents believe their daughter could have done more to save Dominick’s life and they are relieved she is behind bars.
Corrine had more than one opportunity to save her son and she didn’t do anything to alert anyone that he was being tortured and beat so badly. She was out of the apartment with her parents, talking to them, laughing with them, and talking to them on the phone. During her contact with her parents, not one time did she say please call the police right now. She says she was in fear? She was safe, out of the house, with her parents, and the police would have stopped it before it went to far, but her drug addiction was more important than her little boy Dominick’s life. In the grand scheme of things, she did nothing but allow the abuse, and then tried to say she did something to help him but couldn’t because she was being beaten, too.
While Dominick was having the life beat, burned, and stomped out of him, his 8 year old brother, Tyler, watched it all. Scared to do anything in fear he would be next. When asked what he did, he said, “I just played because I didn’t want to get hurt.” That poor child will have to live the rest of his life with the memory of his little brother being murdered right in front of his eyes and he couldn’t do a thing to help him.
Corrine Baker was charged with second degree murder and second degree child abuse. She plead guilty to second-degree murder and second degree child abuse. The plea came with a sentence recommendation from prosecutors of 13 to 30 years prison, according to court records.
She agreed to testify against her co-defendant Brandon Hayes in the arrangement.
Brandon Joshua-Frederick Hayes was charged with torture, child abuse, homicide, murder, assault with the intent to create great bodily harm less than murder, delivery of marijuana to a minor, possession with the intent to deliver and possession of hydrocodone. Hayes is being held without bond on four of the charges, including murder, homicide and torture.
His trial was set to be started in September, 2011. Jury selection started with a change of venue, but even that didn’t stop a jury from being impartial. After a week of jury selection, a Genesee County judge dismissed potential jurors citing a number of issues including pre-trial publicity and the nature of the case. Now the jury picking process will start from scratch either with a whole new group of jurors or with a move to another county. They may be considering a gag order because of the great amount of media attention on the trial.
OTHER LINKS:
Dominick Calhoun, 4, Tortured To Death For Urinating On A Couch
Man tortured 4-year-old to death for wetting his pants
Corrine Baker Charged In Death Of Her Son, Dominick Calhoun
Brother describes abuse before Dominick Calhoun’s death
Corrine Baker pleads guilty to second-degree murder in beating death of Dominick Calhoun
Watch her interview and trying to cover herself right after Dominick dies
Trial begins for Brandon Hayes, man accused of killing Dominick Calhoun
Potential jurors dismissed in Brandon Hayes trial
Stolen Lives 